The moment I left my house on Saturday to make the four hour journey to this festival I had a feeling inside; you know, that feeling that you know that the weekend was to be one to remember. I took my usual journey on the Metro to Seoul; specifically the Chungyangyi (sp?) Station. It was a usual Saturday morning for me, recovering from the previous night of drinking, dancing, and djing at a party I am throwing weekly at a club near where I live. Unfortunately the train at Oksu would have made me late for my departure time to the Kang-Chon (sp?) station from Chungyangyi (sp?) station. I was forced to run to find a cab that got me there with five minutes to spare until departure time. It was there I met up with two of my good friends and boarded the train. It was a fun little train ride, with most of the people on their way to the festival in the same few cars." />

The moment I left my house on Saturday to make the four hour journey to this festival I had a feeling inside; you know, that feeling that you know that the weekend was to be one to remember. I took my usual journey on the Metro to Seoul; specifically the Chungyangyi (sp?) Station. It was a usual Saturday morning for me, recovering from the previous night of drinking, dancing, and djing at a party I am throwing weekly at a club near where I live. Unfortunately the train at Oksu would have made me late for my departure time to the Kang-Chon (sp?) station from Chungyangyi (sp?) station. I was forced to run to find a cab that got me there with five minutes to spare until departure time. It was there I met up with two of my good friends and boarded the train. It was a fun little train ride, with most of the people on their way to the festival in the same few cars.

Upon arrival to the event we noticed signs directing us towards the place where the shuttle "bus" was to pick us up and transport us to the festival grounds. Quite a few of us decided to stop at the local "Buy The Way" to pick up some supplies such as a sitting foil, food, and some drinks. Upon arrival at the shuttle pick up point, we were told that it was moved across the bridge near the ATV park. We waited there for about ten minutes or so and were the first on the shuttle "van" and happily on our way to the festival grounds.

We were dropped off at the registration table for the festival where we happily purchased our tickets. I picked up a few flyers for my growing collection and proceeded onto the festival grounds. We were greeted by a band playing to a sparse crowd. We had arrived early; so the sparse crowd was expected. Upon exploration of the grounds we were pleased to see two stages each with their own vibe. The smaller stage had candles, sand to dance on, and even the stores complimented the vibe. The large stage had rocks to dance on; but I was used to this type of dance floor during attendance of festival in the States. We even found a really cool waterfall with a waterwheel at which it looked like people were planning a drum circle due to the drums I noticed gathered nearby.

I found myself at the beginning of the late afternoon meeting new people and reminiscing with already established friends. I also found myself “flowing” from zone to zone with the crowd. I was greeted by some awesome variation of house on the main stage and some really wicked ambient music on the fringe stage. Unfortunately there was a lot of noise bleeding from the main stage, so the ambient was hard to chill at; although it sort of added to the flavor of the breakdowns in the songs at the main stage. I did find I spent most of my time at the main stage. As the night progressed, I found myself again migrating to the fringe stage; this time I was greeted by some AMAZING reggae; something I have never heard a DJ actually spin before. I stayed for the entire set and must say it was the most-enjoyed set, at least for me, of the entire night. The night continued on both stages with absolutely wicked, varying styles of music. It was also cool to see two drum ‘n bass slash jungle djs. To this date, I have only heard one dj spin that type of music here in Korea.

Just when I thought the night could not get any better; I was greeted by three amazing bands. The first one was a live electronic band. I was amazed at their solid performance to include amazing vocals. I and most of the crowd had wished that they would have continued; but we were then blown away by “authentic” ska band. They definitely blew everyone away. I have attended numerous ska concerts and have seen quite a few ska bands, but this one took the cake. I don’t know if it was the fact that it was around three in the morning when they performed, the LONG time since I have heard a live ska band, and/or the fact that they were so damn good; but they blew my socks off. They definitely were another highlight of my night.

Another cool part of the night was seeing one guy dance with his small dog. Ok, before you think anything; let me assure you it was absolutely wicked. He would liquid dance in front of the dog and the dog would move around in front of him. The dog also enjoyed “riding” his shoulder while he was dancing. I made a comment to him that night: “Always two there are; a master and an apprentice!” Amongst most of my generally corny comments, I think I finally got one that fit. It may have been one of those comments that “you had to have been there,” but I thought it necessary to speak about.

There was another band and two more djs set to play after the ska band. I worn myself out so much, that I was ready to crash. I had no tent nor sleeping bag to sleep in, so I decided to try and lie down by the waterfall, but that didn’t work to well. After wandering around for a bit; I was offered a place to stay for a little while by a friend until the open spot was taken up by one of his crew. I stayed in that tent for about thirty minutes or so and then began to look for a different place to sleep. I was then offered a place to stay by a few friends of mine, who also offered me a place to stay. We fit 4-5 people in the tent and attempted to get some sleep. Unfortunately we were kept wide awake by two roosters who insisted upon doing there thing for a good two hours.

At about six in the morning I finally re-met up with the people I had traveled to the festival with and found our way to entrance of the festival. It was here the shuttle picked us up and took as back to the town. We walked back to the train station and began our journey home. One person that had attended the festival lived close to where I lived; so we continued on from Chungyangyi (sp?) together. We got in countless small conversations; but due to my delirious state, I can’t recall to write about what they were.

At some point during the night I met the manager of the “pension.” He offered me numerous cups of Soju and some meat straight from the grill. Through a friend of mine, who acted as an interpreter; I learned that they were quite happy with the festival and are planning upon hosting it, as long as the promoters want to do it, once or twice a year.

I was quite impressed as was the owner at the organization of this event. They had food, beer, mixed drinks, t-shirts, posters, AWESOME event tags that looked like a VIP pass, maps, schedules, among others. This event ranks near top of my list and I would definitely attend again.

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